The Many Headed Monster

New Moons are always new seeds and new beginnings, but at the same time they represent the ending of a previous cycle.  This New Moon on May 19th, falling at 28 degrees of Taurus, almost the end of the sign, doubly emphasises that we are at the end of a cycle; the same happened last month with the Solar Eclipse at 29 Aries.   The Taurus energy of this New Moon is slow, fixed and stubborn, whilst the Gemini energy we will move into is fast paced, adaptable, inquisitive and mercurial in nature.  Very very different.   However, first we have to deal with the new seed energy from a Taurus perspective and attitude.

 This New Moon sits very close to the Fixed Star Algol in the constellation Perseus.  Mythologically Algol associates with the Gorgon, Medusa, and takes its name from the Arabic word meaning demon’s head or ghoul.  Medusa was one of three terrifying gorgons; they were sisters, often described as winged human females, who had living venomous snakes for hair.   Medusa had the power to turn anyone who gazed at her to stone but was also the only gorgon who was mortal and, therefore, vulnerable.  Along comes Perseus in myth - a great hero often depicted riding Pegasus, the flying horse.   Perseus, the son of Zeus, slayed Medusa and then turned her head towards Cetus, the sea monster, to turn him into stone.  This enabled him to liberate Andromeda who he had captured.  The ancients also associated evil with this star due to her strange behaviour as a variable star.  She waxes and wanes in brightness and appears as though she is ‘winking’ – a veritable mythological demon.

 Pluto is a big player at this New Moon, squaring the nodal axis.  As God of the Underworld, he is perhaps more pulled towards the North Node just because there are other planets there exerting their own pull.  Jupiter has only just moved into Taurus for his year long stint, where he expands and highlights the disparities, excesses and inflationary influences of wealth.  Jupiter is at 0 Taurus and exactly squares Pluto.  But we should remember that Pluto is squaring both nodes – North and South.  The North Node is where we go to fulfil our potential, but the Scorpionic energy of the South Node shows what issues need to be released and what we need to heal.   However, Pluto knows that he can rest easy in the knowledge that he is Lord of Scorpio and, therefore, knows he has huge influence over that end of the axis as corruptions remain covered up.  Wherever we find a Pluto aspect we find issues to do with power and control, which can involve the power of sheer brute force and war, or control through the power of money.  We know that Pluto’s journey through Capricorn has exposed issues of power, abuse of power and corruption, but in Scorpio fashion do they remain concealed?  

 So how do we use the fixed energy of Taurus?  And this chart has a huge amount of it, with Sun, Moon, Uranus, Mercury, North Node and Jupiter - that’s virtually half the sky!  With fixed signs we must guard against becoming too entrenched in our thinking – and Mercury, planet of the mind, thought and communication, is here in the Taurus line up; maybe we don’t know the full truth and maybe we are led into a secondary matrix we didn’t realise was there.  Or maybe Mercury is the media, entrenched in a way of communicating propaganda that is leading us forward, controlled and used by the force of Pluto.  And, of course, the USA, a big influencer, particularly for us in the West, is going through its own Pluto return, bringing challenges in terms of the expansion or contraction of its empire.  Right now the power of the dollar has its own issues, as countries such as China, Russia and the Arab countries seek to challenge its historical power base.

 Firstly, as I said we must guard against being too stuck in our ideas and conclusions because just maybe we only know what we are allowed to know. Mercury, planet of the mind, thought and communication, sits one side of the North Node whilst Jupiter, the planet of expansion and overreach, sits the other side of the North Node.  We must take care not to jump to conclusions.  On the positive side, the fixed energy allows us to persevere and to be strong, but in the knowledge that with a new energy just around the corner we must allow ourselves to be flexible and adaptable.

 Secondly, with a New Moon in a Fixed Sign close to a nasty fixed star, we are actually fortunate to be able to find some release points of opportunistic and harmonious energy from both Sun and Moon.   That’s a really good start, because we haven’t necessarily had that of late.  We have sextiles to both Mars in Cancer and Neptune in Pisces, as well as a trine to Saturn, also in Pisces; all are in water signs, one cardinal energy (Mars) and the other two mutable, adaptable energy. And water and the power of water is interesting energy to explore.   A friend has resumed swimming in the sea as often as she can; she finds this practice to be invigorating and calming and feels that it raises her vibrational frequency.  Bruce Lee once commented: ‘empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water.  Water can flow, or it can crash!  Be water, my friend’.  Water can be soft and gentle, but it can change very quickly and become strong and powerful.  Water is always moving, ready to change and to adapt to changing terrain.  Pisces as a sign reflects the energy of the oceans, where we are not hemmed in by any boundaries.  But this boundaryless nature of water can also lead to illusion, confusion and delusion.   Are these aspects also telling us to look at where are we being deluded or deceived?  Should we consider that we are living in a world of long-running lies?  

 The water of the oceans is where new life erupts, but the skies were also once known as the ‘cosmic waters’ – the ‘waters’ of plasma or ether containing life’s energies; so not necessarily cleansing refreshing water but a different energy – the energy of Air (Gemini) - where we can also raise our vibrational frequency.   As astrologer Pam Gregory often reminds us in her messages, we should perhaps regularly soar up to our ‘eagle’s perch’.  And I would regard this as being set within the cosmic waters of the air in the sky where we can quietly observe and draw from that etheric energy; but my message would be to also take ourselves down into the oceans of our inner emotions so that we can ‘feel’ and intuit what is real and true, drawing from the energy of the watery depths, whilst also being conscious of its negative connotations. 

 Taurus shows what we physically and materially need, whilst Scorpio as a water sign tends to show what we need on an emotional level.  If we don’t acknowledge that we need to heal – and Scorpios keep their cards close to their chests - then those wounds will continue to fester and rot from the inside out; the corruption will continue and power will continue to be used to abuse those who are weaker such as the young.   We need the stubbornness, perseverance and stability of these fixed signs to find some balance – a sense of security and safety that comes from within – but allowing more of a sense of openness and without getting too ‘locked in’, particularly to the thinking that our problems can be solved by having a bit more ‘stuff’.   A bigger house, a better car, a new dress.   That rarely works and the hollows remain because the ‘stuff’ and money is part of the illusory matrix that we have been conditioned to believe in. 

 Many people have commented to me recently how heavy and difficult the energy feels right now - and it is indeed very intense.   I think that is reflected partly by the fixed energy of this square between Pluto and the nodal axis; our destiny is at a very pivotal point now but nothing wants to give up any ground, just like a stalemate in chess.   Pluto is preparing to end his brief sojourn in Aquarius next month and go back into Capricorn.   We also see Mars opposite Pluto - Mars at 29 degrees of Cancer preparing to enter the fixed sign of Leo.   So, Mars is going forward from 29 degrees to 0 of the next sign, and Pluto is going back from 0 to 29 degrees of the previous sign.  Both are focussing on Mercury, the North Node and Jupiter, whilst also retriggering by square the degree of the solar eclipse of April 20th.  Eclipse energy generally augurs some powerful changes - the bear keeps being poked but so far we don’t see many actual results.  This continual retriggering of the eclipse energy is very intense, it is deep and, potentially, it feels dark.  Something is trying to emerge, but it is struggling to be born and that is what we are feeling – the baby is in the dangerous part of the birth canal but the Taurus energy is stubbornly holding on, lacking the imaginative energy of Fire and the speculative awareness of Air. 

 The Saturn/Uranus square may have passed but its energy remains within the contextual backdrop of life. Whilst it was actually in play Saturn had more power as he was in a sign he ruled.  So the Saturn energy held back, restricted and limited.  The energy dynamics of the square was held back but the Uranus energy may well hit us soon in a much more ‘out of the blue’, shocking fashion.  Pluto’s energy is always what I describe as ‘slow bubble’ – it happens in an underground covert fashion, and his brief entry into Aquarius has been more about demonstrating the powers and the dangers of AI that lie ahead of us – the potential job losses that we are just not seeing and the potential evolutionary transhumanism. 

 Pluto’s return to Capricorn next month and the re-activation of the April solar eclipse may well herald the financial issues and difficulties that I have talked about, because it suggests some kind of unfinished business that requires clearing up.  But in the meantime we have to take the covers off our eyes and be aware; be aware of what power issues might be in play; be aware for instance that we are being led to support a war that could well lead us into something that we really don’t want to be involved in; be aware that war is always profitable for some, particularly when one of the big supporters is going through its own challenges.  Countries are carved up and monetised during war and we have to stop being naïve about this.  The financial opportunists may not be known to us mere mortals, but they are lined up and ready to swoop – or maybe they already have.

 The line-up of planets in Taurus is telling us to prepare; to get our finances in as much order as is possible.  The fall out with banks has shown itself briefly with Credit Suisse in Europe and a few banks in America collapsing, but once again seemingly everything got sorted out so many have stopped being concerned. However, as my friend, astrologer William Stickevers, reminded me, the energy in 2008 was similar.  People were lulled into a false sense of security and thought nothing would happen, although personally here in the UK I was involved in a business that felt the economic impact very quickly.   It is the same with our food – we have had many warnings of potential food shortages in terms of grain and fertilisers.  But it hasn’t happened yet on an overt level, so we tend to think any issues have just gone away and it’s not happening.   But we are having to live with the threat of food and energy insecurity, whilst behaving like the lemmings who lined up to throw themselves off the cliff.  It may indeed not happen but the markers are certainly there!

 The trine that we have from this New Moon to Saturn is exactly what I was discussing in my last blog; finding resilience, which we can learn from exploring the depths of inner spirituality. The only way out of the problems we face is from developing an inner strength so that we can be open to learn and open to heal - not from having a bigger house or more ‘stuff’.  We should be continually learning and growing no matter what age we are – and Saturn is our constant teacher of our lessons.  Saturn requires us to take responsibility and as we approach the end of this Taurus/Scorpio nodal axis we should consider becoming more self-sufficient and independent.   As we heal our wounds by focussing on our inner spiritual strength, we must also care for ourselves on a physical level with a healthy diet as free as possible from chemicals, additives and things that we just don’t need to put inside us; a diet that is as close to natural as is reasonably possible.  Saturn also requires us to take responsibility for our lives in general rather than assume someone else will come and do the saving for us.  Saturn is exactly sextile Mercury – we have to think and speak up for ourselves whilst we still can; the first step is actually very easy, it’s just a case of becoming aware.

In July we enter a change of energy as the nodal axis changes to one of Aries/Libra, which embodies the energy of balancing ‘it’s all about me’ in terms of the individual self, versus the needs of others.   The nodes go backwards in the sky, so when they enter this Aries/Libra axis they immediately re-ignite the energy of the April solar eclipse and continue to square Pluto.  So we remain in this intense yet dark energy.   Aries energy leans more to the warrior, the one who asserts to satisfy what he wants.  But this will need to be balanced against diplomacy, finding peaceful solutions, mediation.   The north node tells us that we need a strong focussed leadership; will we get it? It will become even more vital that we find our inner spiritual strength so that we can move forward in the knowledge of who we really are as individuals, no longer naïve and merely believing what we are told.

So in order to thrive during the Aries/Libra transit of the nodes we seriously need to get our act together in the last few months of the Taurus/Scorpio nodal axis and learn how to deal with the many headed monster that we are too scared to look in the eye.  We can learn much from the way of water.   Water flows and meanders.  If we think of large rocks placed in a river, water makes room for the rock whilst also crashing against it in an attempt to break it down and erode it.  Water can be light, refreshing and purifying but also strong, powerful and deadly.   Water contains the memories of the past and those of the future.  Water can appear innocuous but holds dangers that we cannot see.   Therefore, in our everyday life we must be making ourselves aware of the dangers that we just do not see whilst taking responsibility to act so that we and our children can be set free. 

With a many headed monster, we don’t know which head we are up against at any given point in time.   We think we understand the monster we are facing.   But do we?  But the story of Medusa is also a story of liberation at a point of danger and understanding how to make liberation happen.